Injury and Suspensions Diminish U.S. Roster Before Qualifier Against Mexico

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica — The United States squad that traveled here Tuesday was acclaimed as having the country’s deepest roster ever. The ancillary consequences from the team’s 3-1 loss to Costa Rica on Friday in World Cup qualifying may put that hypothesis to the test.

During pregame warm-ups, midfielder Michael Bradley sprained his left ankle. Later, Geoff Cameron, Matt Besler and Jozy Altidore each received a yellow card and drew a one-game suspension, further diminishing the Americans’ ranks heading into Tuesday’s game against Mexico.

It will leave some pondering this weekend whether the talent pool is deep enough to absorb the losses.

“That’s a good question,” goalkeeper Tim Howard said. “We’re going to have to answer that. I don’t know the answer. I’d like to say yes, but we’re going to have to see, fingers crossed.”

He added: “I think the depth’s good, but my words mean nothing. We’ll figure it out on Tuesday.”

As luck would have it for the Americans, the Mexico squad, already reeling, fell deeper into disarray after its home loss to Honduras on Friday night. Hours after the defeat, only the team’s second in 77 qualifiers at home, Coach José Manuel de la Torre was dismissed. Midfielder Gerardo Torrado will also be missing against the United States because of his own yellow card accumulation.

Bradley, who had a magnetic resonance imaging test Saturday, was ruled out for Tuesday’s game. Midfielders Joe Corona, Brad Davis and Jose Torres and defender Clarence Goodson were added to the roster. And defender John Brooks was released back to his club team, Hertha Berlin.

It will be a patchwork matchup of sorts, then, when the teams square off at Columbus Crew Stadium in Ohio, where the United States team arrived Saturday.

“I think we feel confident about other guys stepping in and doing the job,” Landon Donovan said. “There’s guys who have wanted to play and maybe deserved to play, and now they’re going to have a chance.”

The absences, though, could be glaring. Bradley’s injury was the most devastating development Friday. As Donovan said after the loss, the team almost seems to have been built around Bradley, an all-action central midfielder.

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Michael Bradley spraining his left ankle before the U.S. lost to Costa Rica on Friday.CreditKevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Bradley was injured while shooting during pregame drills — he rolled over his ankle as he planted his foot on the wet grass — and his sudden absence seemed to spur the Americans’ undoing at National Stadium. They gave up two goals in the opening nine minutes and never recovered.

The other personnel losses were more predictable at the time, because eight players entered the game carrying a yellow card. Any player who accumulates two during qualification is suspended for the next game.

Cameron, who was inserted into the starting lineup after Bradley was scratched, picked up his yellow card for a foul on Joel Campbell in the 62nd minute. Matt Besler, who has become a key central defender, fouled Campbell 16 minutes later, drawing his own yellow card.

The game was in injury time when Altidore earned his. Seemingly frustrated during a stoppage, he bumped into a Costa Rica player. United States Coach Jurgen Klinsmann called Altidore’s behavior in drawing a card “absolutely not necessary.” Altidore, who has been nursing a sore right hamstring, had scored in each of his five previous national team games before Friday.

“We knew about the risk,” Klinsmann said of the possibility for suspensions. “We knew about the situation.”

Before the game, Klinsmann expressed concern that the referee, Marco Rodriguez, was from Mexico, suggesting that there might be some motivation to hand out cards to American players before the two countries met on Tuesday.

The issue did not flare at any point Friday, and Howard said he thought Rodriguez was “really good.”

The Americans remain in a relatively comfortable spot as far as their qualification chances go. If they win on Tuesday and Honduras wins or ties at home against Panama, they will clinch a World Cup berth. A loss would at worst put them in a tie for second place, where they currently sit.

Still, top teams expect to win qualifiers played at home. That task has become more complicated for the Americans, who will use a depleted roster against Mexico, which is in fourth place, 2 points out of third place and an automatic berth

“They are now absolutely with their backs against the wall,” Klinsmann said of Mexico, which named Luis Fernando Teña its coach for the match. “On Tuesday night, it’s going to be a very, very intense game.”

A version of this article appears in print on , Section SP, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Injury and Suspensions Diminish U.S. Roster Before Qualifier Against Mexico. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe